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Friday, July 13, 2007

Help is Ready and Waiting


More than 5,200 Local Building Officials, Licensed Architects and Engineers now Available to Support San Francisco Following a Disaster

The number of certified building officials and licensed architects and engineers available to help assess the safety of homes, apartments and commercial buildings after earthquakes, floods and other emergencies at the direction of the Governor’s of Emergency Services (OES) recently surpassed the 5,200 mark, OES Director Henry Renteria announced yesterday.

“We know from experience that it’s impossible for every city or county to have all the resources necessary for every conceivable contingency,” he added. “Fortunately, several key elements of California’s emergency response toolkit are available to help local jurisdictions.”

One of the key components of the state’s emergency toolkit is the Safety Assessment Program (SAP), which provides affected cities and counties with access to certified building officials and licensed architects and engineers from local government, the state and the private sector. The growth of membership in the SAP program to 5,280, including 1,700 licensed architects and engineers from the private sector, will help reduce the strain on local support systems and economies due to safety concerns.

“The SAP program is a shining example of what we hope to accomplish as we carry out Governor Schwarzenegger’s directive to work more closely with the private sector,” said Renteria. After an earthquake or other major disaster, he said, many residents and business owners in the affected area may needlessly go to shelters or close their businesses because they’re not sure if their home or business building is safe. “It’s critical that credible experts quickly determine and communicate to the public which buildings are safe to re-enter and those that are off-limits,” noted Renteria.

“The sooner the public sees the green placards used by local building officials and SAP members to indicate that a building is safe for re-entry, the sooner its occupants can leave shelters or resume normal business operations.”

The goal of the program, which was approved for homeland security grant funding during its first review by the United States Department of Homeland Security in March, is to increase the number of registered evaluators to more than 7,000 architects, engineers and building inspectors. Additional information on the SAP and other programs coordinated by OES is available at www.oes.ca.gov.

To visit the award-winning emergency preparation web site created by the City and County of San Francisco, go to: www.72hours.org/
on Friday, July 13, 2007

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